Top Ten Tech Tools to Try in 2017:

1. Virtual Field Trips: Taking your students on a virtual field trip is getting easier and easier! Using your SmartBoard and any type of device, your students can experience another country, space, the ocean, or any other type of visit! Virtual field trips are a wonderful extension of your classroom! Let’s try one in 2017!!

2. Twitter: Twitter is an awesome way to connect with experts in education, communicate with families, and find resources any hour of the day. Let’s talk about how you can use Twitter in your classroom effectively! It’s easy, portable, and fun!

3. Google Forms: Creating a survey, poll, or quiz? Google Forms does the job! You will have easy access to your data, beautiful charts to display results, and quizzes that can self-correct!

4. Seesaw: Not just for primary classes, Seesaw allows your students to upload work into their own digital portfolio. It’s a wonderful way to store and access images, video, interactive lessons, and so much more!

5. Screencastify: Need to illustrate how to do something on the computer? Screencastify is a free screencasting tool that allows you to record your computer screen (no matter what program you open) as well as your own image (if you have a built-in camera/microphone). It makes creating flipped classroom videos a breeze!

6. Google Classroom: Looking to store your assignments in one location, and allow students to submit their work to you? Google Classroom is your answer! It works on all devices and keeps all of your students’ work in one place.

7. YouTube Playlists: Still searching for YouTube videos? Create YouTube playlists in your Google account and you will be able to locate videos, organize them by subject, and share them with others.

8. Quizizz: Would you like to create an online quiz (like a Kahoot!) but assign it as homework? Quizizz is a tool similar to Kahoot! that allows you to assign quizzes, so students don’t have to be in your class to complete them. Quizizz still has the excitement of the online game, but provides many additional options, including funny memes for students each time they answer a question.

9. ELM Databases: Want to provide resources for your classes that include quality images, primary sources, articles, video and more, are grade-level appropriate, and are easy to cite? The ELM databases at www.ELM4YOU.ORG will take care of your needs! Plus, all articles can be emailed to your account, shared easily, and include many readability features (including reading aloud).

10. Google Extensions: Sign in to your Google account while in the Google Chrome browser and you can add a multitude of extensions that will make your life run more smoothly. I use a timer, a Google Drive tool that saves any page into my Google Drive, Screencastify, Google Tone (plays a tone that shares the URL to any “listening” computer), and a reader that takes away the “junk” in an article and changes it to straight text. These are only a few of the many extensions free for Google users.

How can I help? Please contact me and let’s set up an appointment for these, or any other technology ideas!